WICHITA, Kan. — The Wichita State men's and women's track & field teams declared and qualified 25 student-athletes for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, the NCAA announced Thursday.
The Shockers will compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Round May 24-26 in Austin, Texas with the goal of advancing to the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Twelve competitors from each individual event and 12 teams from each relay event will advance from the East and West Preliminary Rounds to the finals in Des Moines. Multi-events are not included in preliminary round competition, and instead, the top 24 scorers in the nation in both the decathlon and heptathlon advance directly to the finals.
Shocker junior Tanya Friesen already qualified for the NCAA
Championships with her performance in the women's heptathlon at the Missouri
Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The personal-best
5,472 points she scored during the MVC meet guaranteed her a spot in Des Moines
and secured her MVC title in the heptathlon.
She will compete in the long jump in Austin later this month
for the chance to advance to the NCAA Finals in a second event. She entered the
competition with a season-best long jump mark of 19-5 ¼.
Junior Aliphine Tuliamuk will travel to Austin with the
Shockers' highest seeds — No. 2 in the 5,000 meters and No. 4 in the 10,000
meters. Tuliamuk won MVC titles in both events last weekend and is entered to
run in both events in Austin. Her top times of the season in the events (15:26.07
5K; 32:39.35 10K) set conference records.
Seniors Lawson Montgomery (13.67) and Todd McKown (13.69)
carry the West's No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, respectively, in the men's 110-meter
hurdles. They finished second and third at the MVC Outdoor Championships for all-conference honors.
Senior Brett Trudo is seeded sixth in the West after
his season-best throw at the MVC Outdoor Championships (237-1). He
finished second in the event for all-conference recognition.
Sophomore Natalie Morerod is scheduled to run in both the
women's 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. She'll enter the meet with the
No. 10 seed in the 400-meter hurdles after setting a Wichita State record at
the MVC meet with a championship-winning time of 57.48.
Senior Audacia Moore is scheduled to run in both the women's
100 meters and 200 meters. She
finished all-conference in the 100 meters and recorded the Valley's fastest
200-meter time of the season at the Arkansas Spring Invitational (23.57).
Senior Cassie Craig, who won the 2012 MVC title in the
women's pole vault with a personal best mark of 13-4 1/2, will participate in the
event in Austin. Senior Danielle Chapman won the women's 800-meter conference
title in 2:06.69 and will run in the event in Texas.
Senior Dylan Hartnett won the MVC title in the men's 400
meters and will run in the event in Austin, as well as on the Shockers'
4x400-meter relay squad. Hartnett's top 400-meter time of the season came at
the Arkansas Twilight (47.11).
MVC champion Tomas Cotter, a junior, will run in the
3,000-meter steeplechase. Cotter's fastest time in the event this season was at
the Stanford Invitational (8:51.88).
Other Shocker women scheduled to compete in Austin include:
Shamoya Pruitt (100 meters); Scarla Nero (10,000 meters); J'Lynn Ledesma (high
jump); Courtney Reinke (triple jump) and Megan Fuller (discus).
The Shocker men's team is also sending: Jake Wike (1,500
meters); Cory Beenken (110-meter hurdles); Brandon Childs (high jump); Jon
Rizzo (javelin); DJ Lindsay (4x400-meter relay); Alex Reed (4x400-meter relay);
Kyle Long (4x400-meter relay) as well as 4x400-meter relay alternates Aaron
Young and Cooper Hanning.
Complete listings of declared student-athletes and additional NCAA West Preliminary information can be found
through the links listed above.
